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Heartbeats Winter 2015 Artwork by Carmel Finnan www.arttoheart.ie

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Page 1: Heartbeats - Art to Heart · showcase contemporary Irish art including painting, sculpture, photography, illustration, prints and ... Outdoor, in the school garden, groups of very

Heartbeats

Winter 2015Artwork by Carmel Finnan

www.arttoheart.ie

Page 2: Heartbeats - Art to Heart · showcase contemporary Irish art including painting, sculpture, photography, illustration, prints and ... Outdoor, in the school garden, groups of very

Untitled by Paul Maguire – from the BEYOND exhibition.

OUTSIDERSby Jole Bortoli

“This is art from beyond the world of art college networks, galleries and critics. The artists who made it, work from their inner vision, something that all good art aspires to but doesn’t always achieve. The artists make it because that it is what they want to do. It is not influenced by training, or critical commentary or the desire to please a buying public. If you can ever talk of an ‘innocent eye’ in contempo-rary art, this is where you are most likely to find it.” These words are printed on a white wall in the Copper House Gallery in Dublin where I went to see the exhibition “BEYOND – Irish Outsider Art”. It is a powerful exhibition which I highly recommend to visit next in Cork, The Atrium, City Hall from 17th November to 4th December. But what is Outsider Art?In the context of this particular exhibition it refers to the work of artists generally self-taught, who work often alone in psychiatric hospitals and prisons, or suffering social exclusion. Over the years however the term has been used increasingly loosely and can often refer to the work of any artist who have little contact with the mainstream art world, who doesn’t necessarily exhibit or have interest in selling their art. In this wider definition I recognize much of the work that is produced by the people I work with: children and adults who do art because they want to, because it fulfils an inner need. To them art- making offers a much needed time and space to reflect on the world around us and to appreciate its many different wonderful manifestations. The people I work with don’t always see themselves as ‘artist’ or find quite difficult to recognize themselves as such and yet that’s what they are. As each person engages with art the curiosity needed to go into something new develops and the wish to explore and observe develops too. Then through painting or draw-ing each artist translates their particular, personal experience into something original that did not exist before. It is a wonderful act of transformation that requires time, trust and faith. I work with many different groups and each group is a living organism with its own special characteristics and unwritten rules. Occasionally, during some of the off-site or off-shore courses people cross over and forge new

links and often friendships. It’s a lively community of ‘outsider artists’ with aspirations that includes allowing themselves the freedom to play, to discover and to appreciate each other’s unique artistic style and learning to accept it and make the most of it. As we explore new themes and techniques together we overcome the frustrations, blocks and moments of chaos. We admire the next person’s work while deploring our own, only to discover at the following class that our own work wasn’t that bad after all! True, some groups are a bit more special than others and may present specific challenges because they live on the margin of society. These are also the groups where true new learning occurs, learning that I can bring back into my wider world so that all together we can grow from there. As an artist I am a bit of an outsider too, by choice that is. I like playing too much to take myself and the official art world too seriously. Yet I am very serious where my art and my students’ art is concerned. The wealth of imagery that surfaces during art-making carries too much profound meaning to be taken lightly. Art-making is serious work, like play is for the child. We really need to devote to it the same caring the child takes during play.“If you take care of your art, your art takes care of you.” I heard a musician say on the radio a few nights ago. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

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Programme For Children

Art to Heart has had a very busy summer. We have delivered the COLOUR! programme to hundreds of children from primary schools and the general public at The Ark, the cultural centre for children in Dublin. It has been a very rich and fulfilling experience for all involved as we have learned a great deal about the nature of colours, their many hidden qualities, facts and stories.

This November we are returning to Art Source at the RDS to facilitate the ‘Art Explorers’ workshops with the assistance of our Magic Turtles team (Art to Heart’s Mentoring Programme). See details below:

Art Explorers at Art Source November 13th, 14th and 15th, RDS, DublinFree workshops for children from 12 am to 6pm. Art Source is Ireland’s premier art fair which showcase contemporary Irish art including painting, sculpture, photography, illustration, prints and ceramic art. Every year a corner of the fair is set aside to create a space where young artists can explore a variety of mediums. This year we have chosen the theme ‘Pets, People and Places’. Come along with your children and let them enjoy some art making time with us.For more information see http://www.artsource.ie/whats-on/

INSIDE OUT & OUTSIDE INArt for Garden Project Christ the King Girls School, Cabra, DublinWe are very excited to continue our work with the children and teachers in Christ the King Primary School in Cabra, Dublin. Outdoor, in the school garden, groups of very eager students have been busy with foraging, weeding and preparing the soil for sowing next Spring, under the guidance of gardener Tina de Burca. Over the next few weeks 2nd and 4th class will be working on the ‘Art for Garden’ project with Jole and Saoirse collecting plants’ specimens from the garden and visually recording the cycle of the garden through observation by drawing, painting and modelling. Follow us on Facebook for updates on the project!

3D flowers and painted bird houses in the garden at Christ the King GS, Cabra, Dublin, produced by the pupils during the past school year.

THE FAIRY RING PROJECT Rockforest, The Burren, Co. ClareArt to Heart’s grounds in the Burren, Co. Clare now include the site of an ancient fairy ring. Work is continuing to restore this site to its original magical state and conserving it along with the rest of its 3 acres land. This area is part of the Burren National Park and includes many interesting natural features.The ring, a big hollowed area surrounded by white thorn and sheltered by a canopy of elder and ash, has finally been cleared of the dumped-in broken furnitures and old appliances. Over the month of November some 80 Hawthorn bushes and 100 Wildlife fruiting hedge will be planted. The Fairy’s Council have approved the work so far and hope that the Fairy community will be able to return living in their original place by next Summer.

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Winter is at our door. As the days get shorter we find ourselves reflecting over the year just gone while sowing seeds for the new season. What did we learn over the past few months? What would we like to explore further? What new adventures await?

At Art to Heart we continue our collaboration and work with the wonderful art group in RehabCare, Dun Laoghaire and with the Sanctuary, the meditation and mindfulness centre in the heart of Dublin. At home we have resumed our regular workshops and classes in both our venues in Dublin and Rockforest, Co. Clare (see below). Abroad we have a new venue for the Spring art course in Italy and we are returning to Stromboli Island in September.

Painting and Music – A new partnership is being developed with clarinettist Paul Roe after the live music and painting performance in the Ark’s theatre during the COLOUR! Summer programme. We’ve decided to engage in regular monthly sessions where we intend to explore possible future collaborations. Courses and WorkshopsNEW!SUNDAY ART IN THE BURRENArt to Heart studio, Rockforest, Co. Clare29th November 201510th January and 20th March 2016. 10,30am to 4,30pm. Cost €65 for each workshop, material and lunch included.

This is a new series of drawing, painting and printing Sunday workshops inspired by the magic of the Burren’s landscape, by poetry and music. We believe that the next coming months, when this part of the world is at it’s best, making art together is an enjoyable way to spend a good Sunday. Booking essential: [email protected] Tel. 085 1532220

Programme For Adults

THIS IS THE PLACEArt to Heart studio, Killester, Dublin 5.Starting 13th January 2016 and running for 8 consecutive Wednesday evenings. Time 6,30 to 9pm, Cost €200 material included.Only 6 places available.

‘This is the Place’ is this art season’s new theme. Already running in our Co. Clare venue as part of the Saturday Art mornings, these classes are already producing some very interesting developments. ‘This is the Place’ is about observing and learning to see the world around us, to appreciate its diversity in all its shapes, textures and colours. Each class starts with some time spent observing and draw-ing what we see the way we see it. With painting we let our memory and imagination do the work, allowing time for our own personal style to develop naturally.

“It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now only sees in one’s memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory.”Edgar Degas

‘This is the Place’ by Jole Bortoli.

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Back by popular demand! THE SKY WITHINThe Sanctuary, Stanhope Street, Dublin 7Sunday 14th February 2016, 10am to 4pm.Cost: €75 (includes art material).Booking: [email protected] or on-linewww.sanctuary.ie/product/painting-meditation/

If you and your sweetheart don’t know how to spend Valentine’s Day next February why don’t you join us in this highly popular day-long workshop? During the day you’ll be taken on a roller-coaster artistic journey through the planets and be sure that once we land on Venus you’ll have the opportunity to paint a love poem or a Cloth of Gold and Silver to bring home to your loved ones. During this very enjoyable day we will be exploring personal imagery, the sacred and secular artworks of different cultures and the importance of the imagination according to the ideas of the Renaissance Florentine’s scholar Marsilio Ficino.No artistic experience is necessary to attend.

Art Courses in Italy 2016A WEEK FOR THE SENSES

PISA - Gateway to Tuscany29th April to 4th May 2016

What do you see in your mind’s eye as soon as you read the word ‘Pisa’? The leaning tower is one of the world’s famous monuments set in what has to be one of the most gorgeous open spaces in Italy – the piazza dei Miracoli. With the gleaming white structures of the Cathedral and Baptistery set against lush green grass, the square truly takes your breath away, but Pisa is much more than that. When we recently visited the city, we discovered a beautiful town rich in hidden gems: churches, palaces and courtyards that await to be discovered through a week of art making, sight-seeing and the sampling of gorgeous Tuscan food.

Contd/

Pisa – Piazza dei Cavalieri (below left) and Piazza dei Miracoli by night with, the Baptistery, Cathedral and the Leaning Tower (bottom).

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Stromboli - In the Land of Volcanoes 11th to 16th September 2016

For a third consecutive year we are returning to the Island of Stromboli and to its bewitching beauty because we just can’t get enough of it! The September art course will take place in Ginostra, a small village clinging to the rock, where there are no cars, just a mule-track along the side of the hill. As you make you way through the narrow paths flanked by walls made of lava stone, you cannot help but wonder at the luxuriant vegetation made of gigantic prickly pears, caper plants, olive trees, wild rosemary and broom shrubs (not to mention IDDU, the smoking volcano overhead!).

Facilitated by Italian-born Jole Bortoli, Art to Heart’s Director, both courses will centre on the participants’ free and creative response to the environment. No previous artistic experience is required. Participants will be gently guided in expressing themselves, mainly through drawing and painting, facilitated by the creative energy within the group, the beauty of the places and the goodness of the food.Fee: each course €400 – includes art material. (Booking fee €100). For more information [email protected] or phone 085 1532220.Each participant must arrange his/her own accommodation and transportation to the venues. See: http://www.arttoheart.ie/art-courses-in-italy/

Working hard (below left); lunch time at Casa Blu (below right) and volcanic rocks samples (bottom).

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Art to Heart’s WorldIn this page Art to Heart’s affiliates write about their creative work and experiences

IDDU By Denise O’Brien

Red, blue, brown, Fermented orange green Smells Dead prickly pears underfootRipe prickly pears drooping pregnant from overheadUnfamiliar sulphur tang hanging in the air

Rumbles deep undergroundFire from the core of the earthIddu sighs smoketossing stones downhillOpening crevicescracking rocks stretching embracingAcceptance rolls over me with the all consuming heat

Slanted light reflecting on whitewashed wallsknife cutting sharp striking Shadows on rounded pillarsfolding into the sky

Houses square white stepping stonesdescending towards the seaFour swift footstepsI am a giant

An expanse of pure blue sky and wateropeningA chain of Pyramids shimmering in the distance Wings spread gliding towards the lightI am a bird

Peace has just descended upon me

Iddu (Him) is the nickname given by the locals to the volcano in the island of Stromboli. It is a living presence that inspires awe and has a powerful effect on the imagination. An experience you don’t easily forget!For more poetry on Iddu see www.arttoheart.ie/blog

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Nourishing The Body

PASTA AND BEANSThis is a very nutritious and yet simple, economical dish perfect for cold wintry days.

Ingredients: 250g tomato puree (passata) 30g finely chopped celery 30g finely chopped carrots30g finely chopped onion 80g bacon diced120g cured ham diced (Parma type or Serrano)400g of your favourite beans already cooked in water1 clove of garlic2 tablespoons olive oil0,5 litre of vegetable stockA sprig of rosemary300g short pasta

Pour the oil in a pot and in it brown the garlic then discard it. Add the chopped vegetables and brown them too. Add a ladle of hot stock and cook the vegetable until the stock has evaporated; add the bacon and ham. Let it cook for a few minutes.Pour in the remaining of the stock, the tomato puree and season with salt and pepper.Drain the beans and add to the pot. Mix well and let it cook for another few minutes. Continue to cook for 10 to 15 minutes on low heat. Turn off the gas.In another pot bring the water to the boil, add some salt and then cook the pasta for the amount of time indicated on the packet.While the pasta is cooking take some beans sauce (a couple of ladles) out of the pot and blend it with a mixer. Pour it back into the pot and mix well.When the pasta is cooked, drain it, add it to the beans sauce, mix and let it sit there for a few minutes before dishing it out so that the pasta soaks in the flavour of the sauce.Serve hot in bowls. Add a little olive oil and some finely chopped rosemary. Enjoy.

The Bean Eater, 1584 by A. Carracci,